Making Adjustments
 

We are living in challenging times for the transportation industry. Some have given up their authority to lease to larger carriers. Others have left their carriers to get their authority. Still others have either parked their trucks and become company drivers or gotten out of the business all together.

Being in business has always involved making changes or adjustments based upon what is taking place in the marketplace. This last year we have seen record numbers of owner operators and carriers going out of business either by choice or from what is going on in the market. We are likely to see more going out this year.

I find it interesting that there are still so many who are trying to become an owner operator in this environment. On the other hand, if someone is flush with cash or has very low debt this could be a good time to make the change.

I think it would be interesting to hear how others are making adjustments to survive in this economy.

Gman how are you making adjustments ???


BTW buying a truck right now i think is a bad idea. But im talking dump trucks not OTR.

For over 30 years I have owned my own trucks. I have never driven a company truck. I had my own auth. for 11 years. I was operating 7 trucks at the highest point, my wife and I did everything ourselves including sales, maintainence, IFTA, We did fairly well but decided to regress. Over a period of a couple of years I was back to two paid off trucks and several vans. last september I layed my auth. dorment and leased to another carrier. I am not nearly as happy as I was on my own and am not making the money I made on my own, but the last few months of Tyger River(my company) the rates I was seeing were heart breaking, the amount of time I was spending trying to put loads togeather was crazy. I was hit twice as hard because the area I am was also a major textile center and my business was based on textiles. So between textiles going overseas and the economy down the tube I decided to take it easy and lease to another carrier. Fortunately I had shop, equipment, and yard paid for so I was able to take a drop in income. My wife now works for another carrier dispatching and getting return loads and every day she tells me about the sorry rates shes offered and thats from all 48, I do not want to discourage anyone from getting thier own auth. In fact anyone considering buying thier own truck I say do it. especially if your young and can do at least some of your own repair work. If I had it to do all over again I would. I'm sorry for being so long winded but I would like to add that if things ever get back to normal I would re-instate my auth. not because I made more money but because I was more content. I make out OK and the people I am leased to are great but it's just not the same.

Some of the owner operators I run with on a regular basis have been talking about updating their trucks but only if they can keep their payments the same or even lower them. Nobody has been talking about changing to another carrier though.

Quite some time ago I dropped ITS and Getloaded but I kept the more expensive DAT. They have more loads which allows me to reduce my DH miles, and with rates the way they are, reducing DH is one of the few remaining ways to make money.

Bought a used RGN to create some more opportunities and reduce DH miles.

We always avoided QC before. Now, I've registered the business in QC and are moving wide loads in there (trucking companies that are not registered in QC are not able to get permits).

I always avoided loads that required pilot cars, but not any more.

Have marketed our outbound product in ways and places that we never thought of before.

Have identified what I will call "arbitrage opportunities". Specifically, buying products in parts of the country where they are cheap and trucking them to parts of the country where they are more expensive and selling them ourselves.

Took one truck off the US runs (saves ~$6,000 in insurance).

Always sort of avoided "The Port" because it was kind of a hassle. We went there 3 times last month and applied for TWIC's while we were there.

Outbound sales are off ~40% and inventories are up. In an effort to avoid selling at super low prices, we are building another storage facility in hopes that we can cash in when the market turns around.

I think it would be interesting to hear how others are making adjustments to survive in this economy.[/QUOTE]

I think the adjustments would of, or should of, been made long before we
found ourselves in this type of economy. that is HOW you make it in this economy. Some say it is a good time to buy a truck. though as most anything you have your eye on, it's always cheaper when you have no money to spare. trucks are a bargain now. though what are you going to do with a great deal on a nice truck if you cannot afford to run it? I.M.O. running different lanes, hauling different type of commodity, being frugal with expenses are all good adjustments. taking freight at too low of rate just to get by, hurts everybody. my adjustments were made as I said long, long, ago. I will say that whenever I have good paying loads & plenty of mile's, I always made adjustments then. put something away for times like now. as of this date my main adjustment is... I refuse to leave the house for anything that is not worth the pay. period. I am down 70 % of just 7 months ago. with the exception of doing $1,800 3 weeks ago.


If there is anyone on here taking cheap freight in my area, you can thank me for getting it. because it is what I will refuse to haul that give you the chance to get it. though I would not recommend it. it just brings things to a slow death, instead of a quicker recovery. I.M.O. of course.

UPDATE! UPDATE! I just put up my first close line. 2 to be exact. going to let clothes hang out on the line, to save on the cost of drying, & NO. I am not kidding. that is my adjustment for today.

Did I say close line? lol meant to say clothes line. see what happens when ya move from the north to the south?? here is another excuse... I was just spelling phonetically. have fun ya'll...

Aren't ypu green. Al Gore will probably put you on his Christmas card list.

not doing it to be green at all. just trying to break the 400.00 monthly utility bill. I also have a small yard. may go to a non motorized push mower next.

Before you know it he will be putting solar panels on his roof, investing in a tub and washboard, and sell his car for a horse and buggy.

Here on the homefront we are doing what we always have been doing. We have always saved when things were good for the bad times.(the only way I could have afforded to try the agent thing). We also stopped buying packs or cartons of Cigarettes and went to rolling our own. We used to be able to roll 3 cartons for about 25.00 but now it 25.00 to roll one so we are smoking whats left and then quitting. It was still less than buying a carton at the store (45$ here in il) but too expensive on the bottom line. We also hit the sales at the market and stock up on things we can and have a good place to buy meat in bulk and stock the deep freeze.

We have been preparing for a return to the road here recently, by picking up a few things that will make life cheaper out there. Like getting a new grill for the truck and a new crock pot for cooking. We have also went out and paid cash for both vehicles we currently drive. We picked one up at the auction (98 gmc sierra ext cab2500 4x4 long bed) for $2100. I got the other (85 ford f150 longbed) for free just needed some work.

I looked at getting a Truck from the auction and paying cash for it basically because it was cheap and no payment. But, at the time I was brokering freight and seen what the loads were paying. There was good freight out there but some loads were going for .50-.60 cents a mile and I knew my costs would be at least .95-1.05 a mile without paying myself.
the truck I looked at was a '99 kw t600 with a cummins and had 680,000 miles on it. it only went for 6,000 but it needed probably another 4500-5000 to make it dot legal. I could not see spending that kind of money on something just to run it for crap rates.

These are just a few things we are doing to cope with the economy here at home and the list will only get larger as I get back on the road. Just trying to cut monthly expenses here and that will make life easier on the road, maybe!

$400 per month utility bill!?

I think someone's adjustment strategy is growing dope in his basement! :smokin:

Yeah really my gas electric and sewer is about $160 on the low end and $240 on the high end.

Oh yeah, my thing, I've said most of it before. I pretty much live in my truck. I have a house, but squabbling with my family, and the freight being out here anyway, I just swing by and pick up mail.

So far so good, tanker rates are holding up. The boss has quit asking me about dedicated loads (out loaded, back empty) and Canada loads. Pretty much, I hang out until I get a load to Baltimore. So far, they've been able to arrange decent backhauls toward Chicago. The only thing is, I don't get in a lot of miles. When the truck is moving, I'm making money. It just doesn't move a whole heck of a lot. If I do 1500 miles in a week I feel like a rich man.

And, with all that downtime- Panera Bread for free internet. Seriously, I live out of the internet. I like to download documentaries and lectures and watch and listen to them- it's studying, really. Lots of politics and history, which interests me. Way, way too much sports. But, I do enjoy it.

I have 4 girls & 2 boy's plus the wife & I. the light's, water, phone, e.t.c. go constantly. that is the entire utility bill. it always get a lot lower in the warmer weather.

Hey. thanks for the idea's..

I don't have a basement.

Hey lowrange. If you like politics and history get your hands on a book called "The 5000 year leap". Maybe their is something about it on the internet, I've never checked. I was never interested in politcs until all of this crap started happening this past year and now I'm reading and listening to everything I can about our history and constitution. That's what the book is about. Anywho, sorry for the hijack.

Ordered. MP3 CD. One of the reviews mentioned Carrol Quigley, that would be right up my alley. I haven't gotten to his book yet but I did just finish Confessions of an Economic Hitman. Thanks

I made an adjustment. I loaded a small hhg order yesterday going with my special products to Canada for next week. Gotta diversify.

This should be a very interesting topic.

I think it will stay like this for quite a while,or until people are going to have jobs so the economy can pick up.

Being new to the business, im eager to learn from just about anyone on how to run smarter and more efficient.If that means driving 900 miles to get the load out and position myself for another load on a good freight area,that's what I'll do.

Another thing is speed.I just finished a run from az to bronx and back and hand calculated my mpg was around 7mpg with my new truck.I didn't have the money to remove the limiter and i was forced to run with it for now.The speed was 65,and that's what i kept it for the entire duration.I think that's how i'll run from now on,even i'll have that limiter removed so i can pass other when there to many trucks toghether.

I beleive in this business and i think the strong ones are going to survive.The weak,mega carrriers that are constrained on rules and regulations and don't have a good business model will fail soon.But hey, that would be a good sign for the small owner op.LONG LIVE THE OWNER OP:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Being new to the business ??? well you sure to have your eye on the ball. your perception is accurate & it is good you can see the benefit of mp.g.. hang in there & best of luck. I'll be right there along with you.

I've been progressive shifting lately and being more conscious of coasting to a stop rather then braking when possible, as well as running at lower RPM's when possible too. Those things combined I have seen a really good improvement in fuel mileage.

I'd like to see an answer to this question too....

It's good to like things.

I told my wife she needs to make more money.

I've been always doing all those things. Penny saved, is penny earned. So for now, i just tightened it. I also lowered my load acceptance standards, according to the current market. This doesn't mean "cheap freight", just being realistic.

And that's how it's done folks. :thumbsup: :bow: :lol:

GM will be idleing their plants for nine weeks, Chrysler is closing several plants, Caterpillar is going to idle plants off and on over the summer, let's see, did I miss anybody? The trickle down is going to be huge.

If anyone is thinking of buying a truck I'd wait till fall, by that time there will be a glut of repo's, I wonder which carrier(s) will be gone by then?

I don't think it's going to be good with all these companies being like this.But hey hope for the best and hopefully we'll come out.But when, that's the million dollar question!!!

Try to cut cost where you can. I switched cell phone providers and saved 100 bucks a month.

I like others are still waiting to see what GMAN's been doing to make adjustments! Common your the OP, tell us!

oil field work is still pretty steady and the flatbed is always moving, I had a 5 axle but I couldnt justify keeping it for the amount of work that was coming through the door, the silver lining is rebuilding late model wrecks has sky rocketed, the first couple of years i`d do 3 or 4 in a year, its may now and i`ve already moved 6 and have two in the garage now, i`m almost at the point of selling the driving side of the business to my BIL and staying in the shop full time working on trucks.